The present invention relates to a parts installation method and a parts mounting method and a mounter for automatically mounting parts such as electronic parts, optical parts, or mechanism elements onto a circuit board.
FIG. 11 is an overall rough drawing showing the general configuration of a conventional electronic parts mounter, and FIG. 12 is a partial detail drawing. In the electronic parts mounter of FIG. 11, two pieces of suction nozzles 2 are loaded to electronic parts mounting means 1, but any pieces of suction nozzles 2 can be loaded by changing the mechanism. Accordingly, the description will be given below as for an electronic parts mounter equipped with the electronic parts mounting means 1 to which any pieces of suction nozzles 2 can be loaded.
Then, the number of pieces of suction nozzles 2 which can be loaded to the electronic parts mounting means 1 is limited, and furthermore, depending on the kind of an electronic part, the suction nozzle 2 which can suck and hold the part is also limited. Therefore, in the case where a necessary suction nozzle 2 is not loaded to the electronic parts mounting means 1 when mounting a requested electronic part, nozzle exchange is needed. In some cases, the nozzle exchange arises in the middle of production of one piece of circuit board 3, or in some cases, it also arises while the kind of circuit board 3 to be produced is changing.
While taking into account the above facts, by referring to a conventional control sequence in FIG. 10 and FIGS. 11, 12, a conventional electronic parts mounting method using an electronic parts mounter for mounting electronic parts on a circuit board will be described.
First, a circuit board 3 to be produced is carried into circuit board supporting means 5 from a board carrying section 4 (step #1). At this moment, if an electronic part in the last production remains at the tip of the suction nozzle 2 because of any obstacle such as inoperativeness of blowing function of a nozzle during parts mounting, there is a risk of breaking the circuit board 3 to be produced here or an electronic parts mounter main body when going to take the next part or when mounting it. The conventional mounter had no means to check a part sucked and held by the suction nozzle 2. Accordingly, in the conventional mounter, when carrying in this circuit board 3, it was necessary to shift the electronic parts mounting means 1 to a position of a parts disposal box 6 (step #2) and to perform parts disposal operation (step #5).
Moreover, at the same time, in order to check whether any requested suction nozzle 2 is loaded to the electronic parts mounting means 1 or not, the present nozzle charge condition is detected by a nozzle existence checking sensor 7 installed at a parts disposal box 6 (step #6). This detecting operation is performed as follows: First, collars 2a of all suction nozzles 2 are raised up to a sensing position where an optical path of the nozzle existence checking sensor is not interrupted. Next, whether the collar 2a interrupts the optical path of a nozzle existence checking sensor 7 or not is detected by vertically moving suction nozzles 2 one by one in turn by approximately 2 mm. That is, when the suction nozzle 2 is properly loaded, it interrupts the optical path of the nozzle existence checking sensor 7, but when no suction nozzle 2 is loaded, the collar 2a does not interrupt the optical path thereof, and consequently, the condition can be detected. However, the nozzle existence checking sensor 7 can check only existence of charge of the nozzle 2, but it cannot check the kind of the nozzle or the nozzle charge condition. Checking of the kind of a nozzle 2 is performed in such a way that a control section (not shown in the figure) deduces what kind of nozzle 2 is loaded to the electronic parts mounting means 1 from the mounting data or the nozzle data stored in a memory.
Here, if nozzle exchange is necessary for producing a carried-in circuit board (step #9), the electronic parts mounting means 1 is shifted onto nozzle exchanging means 8 by an XY robot 12 in order to load the necessary suction nozzle 2 to the electronic parts mounting means 1. Then, when an unsuitable suction nozzle 2 is in place, the unsuitable suction nozzle 2 is removed from the electronic parts mounting means, and the desired suction nozzle 2 required for the production is loaded (step #10).
After that, according to the previously prepared mounting data, the electronic parts mounting means 1 is shifted on parts supply means 9 (9a or 9b), and a requested suction nozzle 2 is located at a parts supply position to suck and hold the requested electronic part (step #11).
Next, the electronic parts mounting means 1 is shifted so that the sucked and held electronic part may be located on a parts recognizing device 10, and the attitude of the electronic part sucked and held by the suction nozzle 2 is imaged by the parts recognizing device 10. On the basis of this imaged result, the mounting position of the electronic part is compensated (step #12).
Next, the electronic parts mounting means 1 is located so that the electronic part may be positioned at the mounting position on a circuit board 3, and the electronic part is mounted on the circuit board 3 (step #13).
By repeating such a series of suction operations according to the previously prepared mounting data, one piece of circuit board is produced. At this moment, whether the production of the circuit board 3 has finished or not is checked (step #14). When the production has finished, the circuit board 3 is carried out of the circuit board supporting means 5 to the board carrying section 4 (step #19).
When the production has not finished, suction processing of the next electronic part is performed (steps #15 to #18, #11 to #13). At this moment, whether the suction nozzle 2 required for the mounting of the next electronic part is loaded to the electronic parts mounting means 1 or not is checked (step #15). When such a suction nozzle 2 is not loaded, nozzle exchange is performed by the nozzle exchanging means 8 after checking the existence of the nozzle on the parts disposal box 6 following the same procedure as when carrying in a board (steps #16 to #18).
However, in the conventional electronic parts mounting method, when carrying in and carrying out a circuit board, the electronic parts mounting means 1 shifts to the parts disposal box 6 to check the existence of a nozzle. However, if the carriage of the board 3 is speeded up for improving productivity, the board carrying time is decreased, and therefore, the nozzle existence checking cannot be finished within the time of carrying the board. Therefore, in some cases, the means for other productions must be stopped only for the nozzle existence checking, and a problem of occurrence of wasteful production stopping time arises.
Moreover, in the case where it is attempted to improve productivity by reducing the number of times of nozzle exchange, the number of pieces of suction nozzles 2 capable of being loaded to the electronic parts mounting means 1 is increased as a result. In this case, the number of pieces of suction nozzles 2 which requires nozzle existence checking is increased, and the time required for that is increased as a result. Accordingly, similarly as the above description, wasteful production stopping time arises, since nozzle existence checking is performed although the carriage of a board has already finished.
Furthermore, even when any disposal of parts is not required but only nozzle exchange is required, the electronic parts mounting means 1 always shifts to the parts disposal box 6, and after performing nozzle existence checking at that position, it further shifts to the nozzle exchanging means 8. Therefore, the conventional nozzle exchange has a disadvantage of accompanying wasteful operation.
Accordingly, due to the above conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an efficient electronic parts mounting method and an electronic parts mounter to avoid wasteful operation and time by installing a nozzle existence checking sensor onto electronic parts mounting means so as to perform existence checking of a suction nozzle while shifting the electronic parts mounting means.
In order to attain the above object, the parts mounting method of the present invention is a parts installation method to install a part held by a holding member to a body to be equipped while exchanging the holding member with a replacement holding member prepared in a tool change section corresponding to the part to be held, wherein it is judged while shifting said holding member whether it is right or wrong to exchange said holding member with said replacement holding member. corresponding to the part to be held, wherein it is judged in the middle of shifting said holding member whether it is right or wrong to exchange said holding member with said replacement holding member.
Moreover, the parts mounting method of the present invention is a parts installation method for installing a part held by a suction nozzle to a body to be equipped while exchanging the suction nozzle with a replacement suction nozzle prepared in a nozzle exchanging means corresponding to the part to be sucked and held, wherein the part is sucked and held by a movable suction nozzle of said suction nozzle and is mounted to a body to be equipped, and wherein in the middle of shifting the parts mounting means equipped with a nozzle existence checking sensor, it is performed by the nozzle existence checking sensor to detect the existence of a suction nozzle among one piece of or a plurality of suction nozzles loaded to said parts mounting means.
Moreover, the parts mounting method of the present invention is a parts mounting method to suck and hold a part by a suction nozzle and to mount the part to a body to be equipped, which comprises a first step of positioning a requested suction nozzle among one piece of or a plurality of suction nozzles loaded to said parts mounting means at a sensing position of said nozzle existence checking sensor in the middle of shifting of the parts mounting means equipped with the nozzle existence checking sensor, a second step of performing the detection of existence of the suction nozzle positioned at the sensing position by said nozzle existence checking sensor, and a third step of performing said first step and second step for a plurality of loaded specified suction nozzles in turn.
Moreover, the parts installation device of the present invention comprises an installation head which includes a holding member capable of being freely attached and detached so as to be exchangeable corresponding to a part to be held, thereby to install the part held by said holding member to a body to be equipped, and a tool change section which includes a replacement holding member capable of being attached to said installation head and in which said holding member is exchanged with said replacement holding member by said installation head, wherein said installation head includes a member detector for detecting existence of the replacement holding member in said tool change section.
Moreover, the parts installation device of the present invention comprises parts supply means including a unit for supplying a part, circuit board supporting means for fastening a circuit board when mounting a part, parts mounting means including a mechanism which is loaded with a suction nozzle and adapted to vertically move said suction nozzle when sucking and holding a part and positions the suction nozzle at any position, and nozzle exchanging means including a mechanism which removes and installs a requested suction nozzle from and to said parts mounting means, wherein said parts mounting means is equipped with a nozzle existence checking sensor for detecting conditions of the suction nozzle loaded to said parts mounting means.
In the electronic parts mounting method and the mounter described in the prior art, the nozzle existence checking is performed in a state of stopping on a parts disposal box, and therefore, wasteful production stopping time arises, so that production efficiency may be lowered.
According to the electronic parts mounting method and the mounter of the present invention, the nozzle existence checking sensor is installed at the electronic parts mounting means loaded with a suction nozzle, and therefore, it is possible to check the existence of the nozzle in the middle of shifting the electronic parts mounting means for performing any processing such as parts disposal operation or nozzle exchange, so that wasteful production stopping time can be eliminated.